- Title: Blasted by Trump over Russia probe, Sessions out as attorney general
- Date: 7th November 2018
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 18, 2017) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) SESSION WALKING PAST SENATORS TO TAKE SEAT AT HEARING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. DEMOCRATIC SENATOR, AL FRANKEN, SAYING: "(SHOT ON SESSIONS) Since you have qualified your denial to say, 'discuss issues of the campaign with Russians,' (SHOT RETURNS TO FRANKEN), What in your view constitutes issues of the campaign?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS, SAYING: "Well, let me just say this without hesitation, that I conducted no improper discussions with Russians at any time, regarding a campaign or any other item facing this country." SESSIONS EXITING HEARING, SHAKING SENATOR'S HAND
- Embargoed: 21st November 2018 19:57
- Keywords: Sessions Trump Russia midterms collusion
- Location: HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA / WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA / WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00895ID45J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was fired on Wednesday (November 7) after unrelenting criticism from President Donald Trump over his recusal from an investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential race.
Sessions' departure was widely expected to come soon after Tuesday's congressional elections in which Republicans retained their majority in the Senate but lost control of the House of Representatives.
Never in modern history has a president attacked a Cabinet member as frequently and harshly in public as Trump did Sessions, 71, who had been one of the first members of Congress to back his presidential campaign in 2015.
Trump announced Sessions' departure on Twitter. Sessions said in a letter to Trump he resigned at the president's request. Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, will be acting attorney general, Trump said on Twitter.
Sessions departs as the nation's top law enforcement officer while Special Counsel Robert Mueller, operating under the auspices of the Justice Department, pursues a wide-ranging Russia investigation that already has yielded a series of criminal charges against several of Trump's associates and has dogged his presidency. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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